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Jack Miller is “900%” sure that his slicks gamble during a drying MotoGP qualifying session at Silverstone would have resulted in pole if he had time for one more lap.
Despite delays before both Q1 and Q2 due to the accident involving Tito Rabat, rain during FP4 immediately before qualifying meant all riders started the pole position session on wets.
Miller switched to slicks after his first run, but ended the session ninth, only beating Alex Rins and the Yamaha duo of Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi, narrowly failing to improve on his best wet time.
But Miller was certain that track conditions would have been good enough for him to take pole if he there had been time for him to do one more lap on dry tyres.
“One more lap and I would have had the pole position, I guarantee, 900%,” he said.
Miller was fastest in the last sector of the track by nine tenths and had the best ideal laptime in qualifying by over a second, but the Australian explained how tackling the Abbey and Farm corners cost him pole.
“Even on my best lap, [in] sector three my partial [time] was my best but was quite bad,” he said.
“The tyre was still wet on the left side and as I changed directions from the right to the left from [Turn] 11 to 12, the front end went.
“I had to close the gas and sort of stab the knee and pick it up, and lost a lot of time there because of that.”
When asked if he was surprised that nobody else had gambled on slicks, Miller said: “No. They never do, they are all scared.”
Miller admits he has been going through a “low point” in his career lately, but he has enjoyed a strong Silverstone weekend so far, as he was in the top six in all four practice sessions.
“We’ve been strong all weekend but really happy with the performance this weekend, really turned things around,” he said.
“Hard to say what’s caused it, I think it’s my mindset more than anything else, is just in the right place. I wish I could tell you [how I did it], and I’d do it every weekend.”